Ducks - Pictures

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Ducks Pictures - Coloration

Ducks vary in coloration according to sex. Mature males have a very brightly colored plumage. Females and immature ducks are much duller and they usually feature drab brown or dull gray feathering. For a male bright color is one good way to attract a female for mating. Lack of color provides safety for nesting females.

The wood duck has an outstandingly beautiful coloring of the plumage and is even known as the 'duck in a bridal dress'. Mature ducks molt and change their bright plumage for less gorgeous feathering. This happens at the transition time between breeding and non-breeding periods, and the process is called 'eclipse molting'.

Ducks Pictures - Mallard (Anas Platyrhyncos)

This duck is the best known for its distinctive coloring and wonderful taste. It has a bright green head and neck with a white necklace at the bottom of it. The chest and the underside are gray. There is one striking element on each wing, and that is a remarkable purplish-red eye-shaped marking, which is called 'speculum'. Yellow beak and orange legs add more variety to the entire range of color. Females and juveniles are duller.

Ducks Pictures - Wigeon (Anas Penelope)

This species is a little smaller than the Mallard, but is also an object of hunting due to fine quality of the meat, also providing for sport-hunting. It has a yellowish head and gray body, the chest slightly tinted with pink. One thing that makes a male recognizable is a shrilling whistling sound that the bird produces in flight. The female and the young are mostly mottled brown. Both males and females have a green speculum.

Ducks Pictures - Teal (Anac Crecca)

This is the smallest duck on the list of wildfowl. It has brilliantly colored plumage featuring a distinctive pattern of stripes. There is one glossy-green curved line on the head running from the eyes and to the back of the head. Both male and female ducks have dark green, spectacular markings.

Ducks Pictures - Garganey (Anas querquerdula)

This European duck is considered endangered and is not supposed to be hunted. Virtually it is only a summer visitor to Great Britain and, therefore, hunting season is no calamity for the bird. The head and the chest are brown, as is the rest of the body, where gray mottles occur. The sides are pale and scapular feathers are black-tipped. Sickle-like strips run from above the eyes and back to the rear of the neck.

Ducks Pictures - Pintail (Anas Acuta)

This duck would definitely make a serious contender to other species in a duck beauty contest. Males have splendid chocolate plumage on the head and the neck, featuring a white band that ascends from the chest to the ears. There are gray, black or yellow spear-shaped scapulars on the back. Tail coverts are black. The sides and the under parts are gray; female and juvenile ducks feature paler under parts and mottled chestnut back and flanks.

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